Yorktown’s Artist of the Month program will sadly no longer be continuing. However, it will be replaced by a new program called Senior Showcases. Each month a group of four or more seniors will get the opportunity to display pieces of their work in the atrium. This year the program will be more student driven, instead of the teachers taking total control. Head of the art department, Virginia Teaford, explained how the program would be a mix of old and new features.

“Last year we had a pilot program called Artist of the Month which was very successful but we found that the students were not as involved, it was a lot more teacher driven. This year, each student gets to have their work up for a month and they can choose if they want to put it up in the Westover library, in the youth section. Once it has been at Westover for a month, it will go to the Sunrise retirement center on Glebe road,” Teaford said.

In previous years an artist was chosen to have their work highlighted in the school and in different locations around Arlington. They had their work up for a month and then the next month a new student from one of the art classes was selected. Artists were primarily chosen from Advanced Placement art classes, or advanced arts. Most seniors are in those classes, like Olivia Cox. She explained a bit about what she liked about the program.

“[Bolon] wants everyone to make the best thing they can make, and we are allowed to go out there with our ideas and do what we want,” Cox said.

This new program is a change from last year, but it will get more students involved and be able to show off more of the seniors proudest pieces. The work will still be sent to the places Teaford mentioned, so they get even more recognition. Now seniors taking art classes will all have the chance to get their work shown to the school without having to be the Artist of the Month.